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Florida Gators to play for a national championship in two easy steps: So you’re saying there’s a chance

Watch me as I rile up Gator fans. This should be pretty easy considering I’m one of them and we’re a rather excitable bunch.

Gator faithful, you can still win yourselves a national championship!

I know you’ve been running through the possibilities ever since the turnover-fest against Georgia, but consider this. This was a year where little was expected. You featured a second-year head coach and a run-prone, sophomore quarterback who couldn’t throw the football. Do you remember the last time you had a combination like that?

Gator fans are now foaming at the mouth. Heck, even I’m getting excited.

That’s right, folks, the Florida Gators, currently ranked fourth in the BCS can still play for a national title if only two things happen.

1) They beat the Florida State Seminoles this Saturday afternoon in Tallahassee

2) USC beats Notre Dame this Saturday night in Los Angeles

Piece of cake, right? Here’s the only problem with those two assumptions.

The Florida Gators’ starting quarterback, Jeff Driskel, has missed the last two games due to injury. In his absence, Jacoby Brissett was average at best, completing passes but only throwing a single touchdown against patsies likes Louisiana-Lafayette and Jacksonville State. Who knew those schools even had football programs?

Driskel is slated to start this Saturday against Florida State and they’ll need every healthy bit of him to succeed. The Seminoles rank first in the nation in rush defense and yards allowed per carry. Prepare thyself, oh offensive line. While the Gators enter this game as the higher ranked team, the Seminoles have won the last two match-ups in this series.

USC, without their starting quarterback, will also have to beat the top-ranked Fighting Irish. The glass half full Gator recognizes this was the one game on Notre Dame’s schedule everyone thought they would lose. The glass half empty Gator knows that was long before USC lost to the likes of Stanford, Arizona, Oregon and UCLA.

However, three of those teams were ranked so all is not yet lost. Anything is possible. Now please excuse Gator fan as he cleans the saliva off his keyboard.

If Florida wins in Tallahassee, rest assured that every Gator fan in America will be watching the Notre Dame game intently, while burning Lou Holtz dolls in effigy. You can also rest assured that not a single Gator fan will tune in to that game if the orange and blue leave Tally with an L.

Regardless of Saturday’s outcomes, Alabama will still play Georgia in the SEC championship game. One of those teams has to lose. To the dismay of everyone living outside the southeast, a Florida victory and a Notre Dame loss means we may have our second, consecutive BCS title game featuring two Southeastern Conference teams, one which again failed to win their own division. This year that team would be Florida, undeserving or not.

So heads up, Gators fans. Keep hope alive. Remember losing to FSU in 1996 and seeing all championship hopes dashed until Ohio State knocked off Jake Plummer’s Arizona State Sun Devils in the Rose Bowl a month later, setting up a rematch with the ‘Noles in the Sugar Bowl. And I know you all remember UCLA shocking USC the same afternoon the Gators handled their business against Arkansas in the 2006 SEC Championship Game.

Stranger things have happened, my friends. After all, this is college football.

So, my fellow Gators fans, count not your turkeys before they gobble but do enjoy a fun Thanksgiving holiday thinking about what could be. Break down Seminole game film as best you can, pray your beloved Gators are doing the same and then root against Notre Dame with all your might. If you do that, you could be staring another national championship in the face.

From your lips to God’s ears . If you get over the ‘noles this weekend , then it makes for an interesting ride in terms of the Gators’ standing in the polls .

Why were Jets’ players celebrating a touchdown score , when they were still at least two scores down to the Patriots ? Never mind their display overall ,. was so f###ing embarrassing in front of their home fans !

I know you’re still an avid fan of boxing , though myself not so much . But here’s something of a tragic story . Hector Macho Camacho has been announced “brain dead” having been shot in a violent incident .

1:12AM EST November 23. 2012 – During his fistic prime, the only thing faster than Hector Camacho’s hands — or his mouth— was his lifestyle. They were all a blur.

We don’t know what is more astounding: That Camacho — declared brain-dead Thursday and clinging to life in a Puerto Rican hospital — made it to 50 years old . . . or that the former teenage car thief raised on the streets of Spanish Harlem fought professionally for 30 years, earning millions while pursuing decadence with reckless fury.

Camacho drove through life without a speedometer. And if anyone needed a governor on a high-revving engine, it was the mischievous “Macho Man” — a 5-foot-6 born-to-be-wild whippet of sass.

Last year, Camacho was shot in Puerto Rico as he drove away from what he said were carjackers. On Tuesday, the former three-time world champion was shot in the face as he sat in the passenger’s seat of a vehicle; the driver instantly was killed. Police said they retrieved 10 bags of cocaine from the vehicle, nine in the driver’s possession.

Back in the early ’80s, Camacho’s then-estranged manager, Billy Giles, told USA TODAY that his fighter was “drowning in drugs,” that he “never will make it back.”

Indeed Camacho never seemed to leave. He fought for another quarter of a century. His last fight was in 2010, only 10 days before his 48th birthday.

Dripping in gold, and sporting a devilish curl of black hair on his forehead, Camacho was a cartoon character come to life — amusing, flamboyant, irreverent. He admired Bruce Lee, compared himself to Elvis. But make no mistake: Hector Camacho also was highly accomplished in matters of hand-to-hand combat.

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Click on link to read in full.

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It would appear that Macho Camacho couldn’t steer clear of the “wild life ” in spite of his claims of ” renewed sobriety and having found religion (God). Obviously the the ” god he found” was reverting back to the use of cocaine amongst other things . Sad, extremely sad !

I’ll be watching the game intently, on the big screen, left over turkey warming up and beer cooling me down. It’s always a great time of year and even greater when that game means something.

The Jets are a mess and suffer from a lack of leadership which is why I think Ryan is gone at the end of the season.

All Thursday’s games were appalling but at least we got to see some points scored. Also gotta love RGIII showing up in prime time in front of a national audience, particularly when his victim was your boy, Jerry Jones.

The Jets laid something on their fans this season that can be best described as dog excrement !

What did you think of Suh’s cheap shot to Matt Schaub’s “package” during the game between the Lions and Texans ?

What exactly was horrible about Camacho’s death when you consider in recent years his life had spiraled out of control ? The cops found cocaine and marijuana in the vehicle that he and his friend were attacked in . He’d began pedaling narcotics and was said to have crossed a few people , most notably members of a drug cartel . Payback , perhaps ?

I trust you and the family enjoyed your Thanksgiving ? Don’t spend too much of that money during Black Friday and the weekend as a whole .

If the state of Texas , with over 600,000 residents there , having signed a petition to secede from the US . Does that now mean the Cowboys can go with them as well ? LOL,LOL,LOL !!! Just a thought mind you , just a thought .

I hate to burst your bubble, but I think the Gators need Oregon to lose today. They are already ahead of UF as I predicted after they lost last week. They are less than.12 behind UF in the BCS. Follow the math. The Gators are #1 in computers and Oregon is 7th. UF will not go any higher in the computers as they will stay behind either UGA or Alabama. If ND and the loser of the SEC championship fall, Oregon will jump two to three spots in the computers and will jump UF in the BCS. The math is simple. Do you think Oregon is ahead of UF by chance? The voters want Oregon to stay ahead of UF to prevent an SEC matchup which should not happen. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see how the math works. Florida fans better be hoping for an Oregon State victory!

A bit off topic, but just wanted to say that Friday night the Celtics finally played the game the way they were supposed to, beating down a top team like the Thunder. I can only imagine that after the loss to the Spurs, KG must have bitten off the heads of a few Celtics players. I definitely want to see them keep up the intensity Sunday in Orlando. We’ll be there wearing our green gear but I will not be painting a green shamrock on my dome.

I still think when it’s said and done, Florida would get the nod, although you do raise an interesting point.

It goes back to the traditional argument of college football, that a loss earlier in the season is better than a loss late.

Assuming both Florida and Oregon win, I think Florida’s schedule will prove a little harder than the Ducks’. I also think a win over Florida State would be more impressive than Oregon beating the Beavers.

Suh is a clearly a player who has other issues besides his lack of sportsmanship. But what might be more intolerant and unconscionable has been the lack of action by the Lions as an organization ! . It were as if Schwartz and the owners condone the player’s actions . Not one formal statement has been forthcoming on ‘this , or any of the previous incidents . Now you have an a#s wipe in Goodell , issuing a statement that an in depth investigation will be carried out . He has suspended players for the mandatory 4 games for violating the league’s drug policy, but a blatant act , such as the one by Ndamokung Suh , will need an investigation . No wonder the NFL has no ###king credibility whatsoever !

Both you and I know that if you cross certain individuals within the Tampa Bay and Miami area , who deal drugs , the end can be unfortunate . Therein , lies the lesson for Camacho and his close friend , who both passed . You simply don’t mess with a dealer’s money or his drugs .

The girlfriend wanted me to travel up to O-town to hit a couple of the malls . If I am heading up to her place it’s booty call or a party , not to shop at a mall.

Chris,
It’s a moot point now with ND playing either Bama or UGA, but Oregon did pick up points in the computers. Florida is still behind them in the human polls and neither has a game left so after Bama or UGA lose next week (and possibly KSU) Oregon would pick up one to two more spots and could push them over Florida. It’s in the computer’s hands now. Florida is already #2 in the computers and won’t go to #1. Just saying if ND had lost, I think Oregon would have made up the difference because of the computers, but we won’t get to find out now.
Good luck in the Sugar Bowl. The Gators deserve it after a great season and tough schedule.
Dan